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Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Introduced in the House

June 18, 2007

washington, d.c.  Rep. Mike Capuano and the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank, today introduced the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act of 2007 (TRIREA). The bill extends the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for ten years and will spur the development of a private market for terrorism risk insurance. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many insurance companies excluded terrorism events from their insurance policies. As a result, Congress passed TRIA in 2002 which created a federal backstop to protect against terrorism related losses. In 2005, the measure was extended for two years and currently set to expire at the end of 2007. Also joining Rep. Capuano and Chairman Frank in co-sponsoring TRIREA are Reps. Gary Ackerman, Joseph Crowley, Steve Israel, Peter King, Carolyn McCarthy, Carolyn Maloney, Gregory Meeks, Dan Boren, Emmanuel Cleaver, Lincoln Davis, Al Green, Luis V. Gutierrez, Steven Lynch, Tim Mahoney, David Scott, Brad Sherman, Albio Sires, Melvin Watt and Robert Wexler.

Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, has scheduled a hearing to discuss the bill on Thursday, June 21 at 10:00 a.m.

"TRIA has helped make terrorism insurance available and affordable to businesses, particularly those in our major urban areas. Improving and extending the program will help stabilize the economy, as well as help protect American workers and our communities against possible terrorist attacks," stated Congressman Mike Capuano.

"We need to keep in perspective that this bill is necessary for economic development and to protect property owners, building tenants, developers and people who work or live in high risk areas," said Chairman Frank. "We have made significant improvements in this legislation, and we believe we have made struck the right balance in providing assurances for business and workers in urban areas and encouraging the creation of a private market."

Since its enactment, TRIA has ensured the availability of affordable terrorism risk insurance in the marketplace and thereby fostered continued urban development and real estate development in the United States. The TRIA program has successfully kept terrorism risk insurance affordable, especially considering the President's Working Group on Financial Markets recently concluded that a private market for terrorism risk insurance is not yet commercially viable  notably with regard to group life insurance and insurance against nuclear biological chemical and radiological (NCBR) acts of terrorism. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act of 2007 (TRIREA) will include provisions to:

Extend TRIA for 10 years with current co-payments and deductibles for conventional terrorism acts;

Expand TRIA's "make available" requirement to include NBCR coverage;

Change TRIA's definition of terrorism to include acts of domestic terrorism;

Set the program trigger at $50 million;

Add group life insurance to the lines of insurance for which terrorism coverage must be made available;